Newly qualified primary care nurses’ preparedness to make sound clinical judgements in practice

Abstract

Background: The public health sector in South Africa provides care to more than 40 million people, with primary health care (PHC) clinics acting as most patients’ first contact with healthcare services; 80% of patients are treated by primary care nurses. Primary care nurses’ poor clinical judgment can result in poor patient care, complications and death. However, newly qualified primary care (NQPC) nurses’ preparedness for making sound clinical judgements in practice has not been evaluated in Gauteng province, South Africa. Objectives: To determine NQPC nurses’ level of preparedness in making sound clinical judgements in practice. Method: A quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive design was used. The target population was NQPC nurses. A census method was used to select all NQPC nurses in public PHC facilities in three health districts of Gauteng. The sample size comprised 77 NQPC nurses, and data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Results: The findings indicated that 83% of NQPC nurses were able to notice salient changes in patients’ conditions, 43% were able to correctly interpret the changes that were noticed, but only 42% prioritised the correct patient care. Conclusion: The results reflect that 50.2% of the NQPC nurses in public PHC facilities in the three districts in Gauteng were functioning at exemplary levels. Contribution: This article highlighted NQPC nurses’ level of preparedness to make sound clinical judgements within a year after qualifying.

Keywords

• primary health care
• clinical judgement
• preparedness
• newly qualified
• quantitative research